COMPROMISE ON JOBS BILL ABANDONED SENATE AGREES TO DISAGREE, WILL TRY AGAIN

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 6, 1993                   TAG: 9304060278
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
COMPROMISE ON JOBS BILL ABANDONED SENATE AGREES TO DISAGREE, WILL TRY AGAIN
Senate Democrats and Republicans laid aside efforts Monday night to compromise on President Clinton's jobs bill, agreeing only to take up the $16.3 billion package again after a two-week recess.
In the meantime, the Senate took care of an even more important economic bill. Senators by voice vote completed congressional action on a bill extending the government's borrowing authority by $225 billion, to $4.37 trillion, through Sept. 30. The present borrowing limit is expected to be reached this week.
After hours of negotiations among the White House and Republican and Democratic leaders, the Senate put off until April 20 further efforts to find an acceptable job-creation bill.
Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine, said he concluded after talks with Republican Leader Bob Dole of Kansas that "there was no useful purpose served by continuing on this [jobs] bill at this time."
Mitchell and Dole came to the Senate floor late Monday after several hours of intense talks that included consultations with Clinton administration figures, including Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen and Leon Panetta, director of the Office of Management and Budget.
The White House had signaled earlier Monday an interest in possible compromise to get the president's bill back on track.
Although they abandoned efforts to move further on the jobs bill, senators did not technically adjourn for the holiday break. That will await a session today for the sole purpose of passing the adjournment resolution.
Under the arrangement, each party will have one final opportunity, after the recess, to offer an alternative to the pending jobs bill.
The starting point for the Republican amendment is likely to be a Dole move to strip out of Clinton's bill about $4 billion to pay for extended jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. That likely will be opposed by Democrats, who want to keep that money in the bill to draw more votes.
The jobs money is a central ingredient of Clinton's prescription for economic recovery. Republicans want to trim the measure and pay for it by cutting other programs.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB